{"id":8410,"date":"2018-08-09T14:53:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T14:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3161184"},"modified":"2018-08-09T14:53:23","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T14:53:23","slug":"fbi-dea-orchestrate-massive-raid-of-suspected-illegal-marijuana-grow-operations-across-denver-metro-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/fbi-dea-orchestrate-massive-raid-of-suspected-illegal-marijuana-grow-operations-across-denver-metro-area\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI, DEA orchestrate massive raid of suspected illegal marijuana grow operations across Denver metro area"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/fbi-dea-orchestrate-massive-raid-of-suspected-illegal-marijuana-grow-operations-across-denver-metro-area\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fbi-dea-orchestrate-massive-raid-of-suspected-illegal-marijuana-grow-operations-across-denver-metro-area.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents joined state and local agencies in a massive, coordinated raid of more than a dozen suspected illegal marijuana growing operations across the Denver metro area Thursday morning, federal officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Drug investigators began serving judicial warrants to suspected drug trafficking locations following a lengthy investigation, said Deanne Rueter, spokeswoman for the DEA in Denver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s quite a few in Thornton,\u201d Rueter said. \u201cA lot of cities are involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Law enforcement agencies across the metro area are involved, including Denver, Aurora, Thornton, Commerce City, Broomfield police and sheriff\u2019s investigators from at least Jefferson and Arapahoe counties.<\/p>\n<p>Rueter declined to give specific details about the total number of homes and businesses that are being raided. She said she does not know whether law enforcement officers are making drug-related arrests, but that the situation is an ongoing criminal investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Just before 11 a.m., agencies were still going house-to-house serving warrants to suspected locations across the metro region.<\/p>\n<p>Television footage showed pot plants laid out in the driveway of a home in a middle-class subdivision in the suburb of Thornton. Agents in hazmat suits were walking around the front of the home as three people sat handcuffed on the curb. A group of neighbors, some out with their dogs, gathered on a corner to watch.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/06\/28\/massive-marijuana-bust-dismantles-illegal-trafficking-ring-denver\/\">June of 2017, a massive bust<\/a> resulted in a Denver grand jury indicting 62 people accused in a marijuana trafficking organization that reaped millions of dollars by illegally growing pot and selling it out of state for four years.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, the bust was the largest in Colorado since recreational marijuana was legalized in 2014. The bust was indicative of law enforcement cracking down on gray market growers exporting their products across state lines.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday morning, Rueter said she was unable to characterize the size of the raid that involved residences across the state.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This breaking news story will be updated as new details are available.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Marijuana plants spread out on the driveway of a home raided this morning by federal and local police. I\u2019m told this investigation involves illegal marijuana trafficking outside of Colorado \u2014 which is illegal anyway you slice it. This is in Thornton. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qqS8oqD0T9\">pic.twitter.com\/qqS8oqD0T9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jace Larson Denver7 (@jacelarson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacelarson\/status\/1027542845195005952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Large police presence in Thornton with DEA agents. Just learned they are serving search warrants as part of a federal investigation into illegal pot. Several locations. This is just one. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hXqXdqIwOw\">pic.twitter.com\/hXqXdqIwOw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jace Larson Denver7 (@jacelarson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacelarson\/status\/1027538320967000064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents joined state and local agencies in a massive, coordinated raid of more than a dozen suspected illegal marijuana growing operations across the Denver metro area Thursday morning, federal officials say. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,6812,233,7066,6813,77,6814,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,6817,2811,7067,6818,2655,6819,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}